


Hanging

by tiny-freakin-head (Hobbitfing)



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-06
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-13 08:30:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4515021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hobbitfing/pseuds/tiny-freakin-head
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I was thinking about how Scout gets hung in <a href="http://www.teamfortress.com/tf02_unhappy_returns/">Unhappy Returns</a>, and that seems like the kind of thing he might have nightmares about. </p><p>So here ya go!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hanging

**Author's Note:**

> Roleplay with my wife, who doesn't have an AO3 account.

Scout stretched out his long runners’ legs, his feet, his toes straining through the thin material of his shoes, trying desperately to reach…something. Anything. But it was just out of reach, and his legs were hanging on empty air and he was falling and he couldn’t breathe…

Sniper woke suddenly, to the boy in his bed kicking him and thrashing around. 

“Scout,” he groaned, rolling back over and wrapping his arms around the skinny runner, “you’re dreaming, wake up.”

Scout gave a strangled scream, kicking furiously. He woke when he fell off Sniper’s narrow bed and hit the floor, gasping. He was sitting up before he’d fully woken, hands clawing at his neck. 

Without thinking, Sniper grabbed Scout’s hands to keep him from scratching himself too badly. “Scout, you’re safe, it’s alright,” he murmured.

Still not sure where—or when—he was, but seeking something solid to cling to, Scout threw himself against Sniper, wrapping his whole body around the Australian. 

“Shhh, I gotcha,” Sniper hauled him up on the bed gently and pulled him into his arms. “You okay mate?”

“I…I…” Scout licked his lip, looking around. “…Sniper? You weren’t here…there…”

“Sorry, Scout, I know I wasn’t there. I’m here now though,” he kissed the top of Scout’s head, rubbing his back gently. “You feelin’ okay?”

Still breathing too fast, too shallow, Scout blinked at Sniper. “We’re in your camper. We’re safe?” He gave Sniper a desperate, pleading look that demanded reassurance. 

“We’re safe. We’re in the camper. You can hear Engineer working in his workshop, right?” He paused so Scout could listen. “And you can feel my sheets, and my skin. You can see a bit of light through the little window there, from the moon. You’re safe.”

“Yeah,” Scout said, softly, taking in all the things Sniper had drawn his attention to. “…sorry.” 

“It’s okay, mate, we all get bad dreams,” Sniper kissed his forehead again, stroking the boy’s short hair. “Just take your time and relax a bit.”

“You, too?” Scout cuddled against Sniper, uncomfortably aware of how sweaty he was. He was starting to shiver as it cooled in the night air, and with the remnants of his nightmare. 

“Yeah, everyone gets scared and we all dream about it sometimes,” Sniper wrapped Scout up in the sheet. “I had malaria once, you know, when I was just a little older than you. I was sure I was gonna die and I still dream about it sometimes.”

“What was it like?” Scout asked, glad to hear about someone else’s fear at the moment. He liked listening to Sniper’s surprisingly deep voice, especially pressed so close to the Australian’s chest.

“You’ve had fevers before, right?” he waited until Scout nodded, then went on, “I was shaking so hard I was bruising myself, everything hurt, I was cold and sweaty and I was exhausted. And I was in a place where I didn’t speak the language, so the people takin’ care of me couldn’t tell me anything comforting.”

“Ew. And that’s freakin’ scary, Snipes. That’s why you should just stay in America. But they weren’t, like, trying to kill you?” 

“No, I only survived because of them,” he laughed a bit. “But yeah, I was scared I was gonna die in the jungle and no one would ever know.”

“They totally could’ve killed you an’ taken your stuff! Not that you really have stuff worth takin’. No offence.” Scout sat up just enough so he could give Sniper a quick kiss. Scout sighed. He didn’t like talking about being afraid, especially this particular nightmare, but… “I dunno why it was so different,” he murmured, barely louder than the breeze blowing through the open window, or the insects gathering around the camper’s light. 

“It wasn’t in battle. It was a slow wait and you’d probably never even imagined hanging to death. At least you’re used to being shot or stabbed,” Sniper nuzzled into Scout’s neck, kissing him behind his ear.

Scout nodded, hoping Sniper hadn’t heard his little sniffle. “Naw. Didn’t think they still did that.” 

Sniper kissed him, gently, holding Scout’s face in his hands.

“Jeez. Thanks, Snipes. Dunno why you put up with me.” Scout allowed Sniper to take most of his weight. “You don’t think I’m…” he sighed, “a coward?”

“Nah, everyone’s scared of something. You should go ask Heavy if you don’t believe me. Even the big guy’s scared of some things,” Sniper chuckled a bit, trying not to laugh at Heavy’s silly phobia. The giant Russian was afraid of moths. 

Scout laughed, softly. “If he was smart, he’d be scared of Medic. I pissed myself,” he admitted, all in a rush, turning as far away from Sniper as the Australian’s hand would allow. Maybe Sniper hadn’t heard him at all. 

“So did I the first time I had a gun to the back of my head,” Sniper shrugged. “People are just animals, Scout. That’s what we do when we’re scared.”

“Are you serious?!” 

“Yep.”

“…what happened?” Sniper had the best stories. 

“Alright, well I was just a little whippersnapper, and I didn’t realize I was doin’ a really stupid thing,” Sniper prefaced his story with that. “A bloke I knew had dared me to break into a local pub,” he didn’t feel it necessary to tell Scout that local meant three days away from his parents place, “and me bein’ an idiot, I did it.”

“An’ he caught ya?” It didn’t happen often, but there were very rare instances where Scout was glad Scout was the youngest brother, so he could learn from his brothers’ experience. Or rather, the stupid shit they’d done, some of it before he was born. His brothers had tried similar things, with more or less the same results. His ma’d had no sympathy for them, and she’d made them go back and apologize to the places they’d broken into. Well, as long as they were local and not assholes or nothing. 

“I got surprised by a gun to the back of my head and wet myself,” Sniper nodded. “All I’d been after was a few bottles of somethin’,” he grinned, “but I don’t blame him for what he did. At least he didn’t shoot me. But mum and dad sure heard about it and I got it somethin’ fierce at home too.”

“I bet.” Scout lightly kissed Sniper’s hand. “Thanks, Snipes. Is that when you decided to be a Sniper?” He smirked. 

“No, but that was when I decided to stop listening to that bloke that I knew,” he laughed. “And next time I saw him I beat the shit out of him.”   


“Didja make him piss himself?” Scout asked, with relish. 

“Nah, but if I’d kept going maybe I coulda. I didn’t have much of a stomach for that then,” he admitted.

Scout raised an eyebrow. It was hard to imagine Sniper not having a stomach for…pretty much anything. 

“I was a bit younger than you then, I bet,” he chuckled. “Hadn’t traveled any, hadn’t shot anyone, just hunted. Wasn’t a virgin though,” he grinned, teasing.

“Yeah, I know, you got fucked when you were like, three. Perv.” Scout elbowed his lover and stuck out his tongue. He was feeling better. Sniper always made him feel better. 

“You love it,” Sniper kissed Scout’s jawline, squeezing him a little.

“Yeah. Jeez.”


End file.
